Brewing Strong
by Wolfriun
Summary: Renly hasn't had proper inspiration for weeks. Every day he visits the same café, desperate for ideas to finish off his jobs. Today being no exception, he visits his favourite café, only to be met by a new barista, Loras. With Loras comes inspiration, but also unwanted feelings and emotions he'd rather avoid. Modern!AU. Coffee shop!AU.


It was too early for even the earliest morning birds to have started their joyful singing. The town was quiet and empty, except for a few cars driving slowly through dark streets to their locations, the orange light from the dim lamps shining in their windshields. The asphalt glittered with rain which had ended just minutes ago, leaving everything with a coat of wetness. For most people, the early morning was a thing to avoid; it was way too dark and they were simply too tired to wake up at that time of the day.

Renly Baratheon, however, enjoyed the early mornings. He loved to watch the dark town slowly wake up as he passed by in the more or less empty bus – the earliest bus there was. Every day, he passed the same buildings, the same houses, and the same people. They would probably have no effect on his life whatsoever. He'd probably never meet any of them. But in his mind, said people had such fascinating lives. The woman who fetched the mail when the bus rushed by could be a rocket scientist for all he knew. Or, she could simply be working in the grocery store across the street. Anyhow, she had a life and a network of her own, just like the billions of other people on the Earth.

The bus took a sharp turn which almost knocked over his stack of sketch books and papers, but with his quick reaction, he managed to slam his hand down on the stack, saving him from a disaster. He sighed loudly. The sudden movement had broken his chain of thoughts like a snapped bead necklace. Things flying everywhere, just out of his grasp. He'd almost managed to get a hold of an idea. It had only been a simple one, but it was there, tickling the end of his mind. Possibly just what he needed to get this darn job done.

But no matter how much he tried to focus on the little thought, it slipped through his fingers to the point of frustration. It was no use. The idea was gone. He grunted annoyedly and closed his eyes, pushing his thick-framed glasses up on his nose. They weren't necessary for him – nether did they have any strength – but they looked incredibly neat with his look; perfectly shaped for his face shape and facial hair.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and before he knew it, the bus stopped at the little mall he was going to. Of course, when he awoke from his weird, half-way sleep, his papers had fallen on the ground, beneath the seat in front of him. He cursed loudly. It was way too early for this. Luckily for him, though, he had no order in his things, so he simply stuffed everything under his arm and hurried out, not caring if some of the papers fell out as he walked. Most of them were blank anyway.

As usual, his favourite coffee bar was open when he arrived. It was empty – if you ignored the druggie sitting in a corner, clinging to his daily free cup of coffee. Renly was used to him, so he didn't bother him. Lately, the bar had started to give coffee to the homeless. A wonderful action which made him like the bar even more.

It was a cozy, little, and quite unpopular little place. Few people visited, and those who did was usually regulars. The "every fifth coffee is free"-policy usually made people come back, but it was always the same people. Therefore, it was always quiet and lovely. The smell of freshly made coffee blended in with the sweet odour of roses from the boutique next door in a heavenly combination of bitter and sweet. A low tune played in the background. Nothing much, just something to break through the silence in the room, without disturbing anybody too much.

After placing his stack at his usual table – one where he had a nice view to both the street and the desk – he pulled up his phone and walked over to the clean desk. Someone had sent him a mail, hopefully not anything way too important… Which it was. Of course it was. Every mail he got was pretty important. Without really noticing where he was standing, he leant against the bar and started to skim through the mail to get the most important parts down.

"Excuse me, sir?" The sudden, unfamiliar voice made almost drop his phone. He'd never heard it before, so it was probably a new guy. They always tried their best to fit the job, but none lasted longer than a couple of weeks. It was sad, really, because some of them had been really nice compared to some of the other folks working there.

"Just give me the regular," Renly replied without looking up from his phone. It hit him the moment after he said it that the new guy could have no idea what this "regular" was, but he didn't say anything to fix it. His mind was too focused on the tiny screen in his hand to bother with such trivial things.

"I don't really know what you regularly order," the voice behind him continued, an awfully hidden annoyed tone filling it. Though it was annoyed, it was still oddly beautiful. Like silk against Renly's ears, soft and calming. Perfect to listen at during the morning.

"Just give me a-" He glanced up and stopped mid-sentence. Nothing in the entire world could have warned him about what he was going to face when he looked up. Before him, one of the most gorgeous human beings he had ever seen was watching him with golden eyes that sparkled with life. His lightly tanned face was embraced with long, brown locks which almost looked like liquid gold in the light from the lamps. It was long enough to touch his shoulders, which was covered by a plain, pastel-purple shirt – the job uniform. It was way too pale for him, like a dry patch of cement compared to the sun. On the left side of his chest, he had two pins, one with the words "Hi! I'm new!" and a yellow smiley face. Beneath it, a more discreet one, where his name, Loras was written with plain, black letters.

Just thinking of the five letters in that particular made his heart pound so hard he could feel it in his throat. Loras with his beautiful voice and golden eyes that shone, like it was the middle of the day, not early dawn. He said something, but Renly didn't hear, and if he had, he wouldn't have understood the words.

Loras had to repeat himself three more times before Renly managed to rip his eyes away from his face. He instantly went back to his phone, hoping he wasn't blushing too hard.

"A medium caffe Lora– Latte." Renly cleared his throat awkwardly, still staring at his phone. The words were blurred out due to the haze-like state he was in. Luckily, reading the words wasn't the reason he was looking at them. Somehow, though, he'd managed to mess up latte with LORAS. Of all the things in the entire world he could have said, he'd almost told the other man that he wanted coffee with him in it. Something that could have been taken terribly wrongly. "With… Uh, nuts."

"Nuts," Loras' gorgeous voice echoed, his voice carrying an obvious smirk.

" ." Again he'd somehow messed up. He pushed his glasses up on his nose to pretend like he was busy with something else than just the phone, possibly to make the whole thing more realistic. Or something like that. Renly didn't really know. At the moment, it felt like he didn't know anything. "I like… Nuts. Hazelnuts."

"You like nuts." Loras laughed lightly. The sound of it was more beautiful than anything Renly had ever heard. It was like drops of honey on his soul, warm and sweet. Luckily for Renly, he shook his head with a snicker, before giving him the price of the coffee, which he already knew well enough.

Loras must have felt the extreme wave of tingling through Loras' arm when their hands touched in a brief moment as Renly handed over the exact amount of money. Of course he must have felt it; it was like his arm had grown twice its size for a second, a wave of fuzziness. But the young man didn't seem to have noticed. He just took the money, smiled a tiny smile that made Renly's insides feel like they were melting into a puddle of syrup, and gave the paper card he'd gotten with the money a stamp. It was almost incredible, how very uninterested he could look while he was so darn attractive and simply… Warm-looking, like he had never felt the cold winter wind against his skin.

To watch Loras work with the coffee machines was pretty entertaining. The young man didn't seem to have much experience with them. His wavy hair was in the way all the time, so he kept tucking it behind his ears in-between his fidgeting with the steamers, but it just kept falling out, resulting in some low cusses and an annoyed groan once in a while, but it never seemed to hit him that he could just tie it up. Or maybe it did. Maybe he enjoyed to know how peoples' fingers twitched impatiently when they saw the loose stray hairs out of place.

It took a while before his coffee was finished – a whole lot longer than it usually did when the people who'd worked there for some time took – but Renly didn't really notice, not until a warm cup was placed in his hands and his eyes met Loras' for a brief second. Just that little moment of eye contact was enough to upset Renly's stomach to the point where he thought he was going to pass out, but the burning sensation from the cup kept him up and going. However, if the young barista hadn't mumbled his obligatory "enjoy" and left the desk to fix something in the stockroom, it might have happened. Instead, he somehow managed to gather his wits enough to walk back to his table, feeling his face slowly get red enough to match the red light the sunrise was bathing the room with.

Normally, he would have watched the sunset in its entirety. The combination of strong and pastel reds, blues and pinks in a heavenly combination on the morning sky, natural and more beautiful than anything he knew. Today, though, it had changed. The incredible morning sky was just a pale speck of disappointment compared to the person he knew was working right behind the purple-wallpapered wall his eyes were pointed at.

It would probably take a while before Loras headed back out, so Renly took a little sip from the warm coffee he'd gotten. To be honest, it wasn't very good or well-made. It was thin, too bitter due to the huge amount of hazelnut and a little too cold. If Loras hadn't been the one to make it, he'd probably complain; good coffee was important to him. But he couldn't complain to him. After all, he was completely new in that job, so it was pretty understandable if his coffee wasn't perfect. Besides, it would be more or less impossible for him to make anything which would be just nearly as perfect as he was himself.

The sunset slowly faded away behind him while he watched the desk. Nobody came to order any coffee, so nothing happened, nothing but the stack of papers beside Renly growing more and more annoying. He shot it an angry glance, like it would magically fill the blank pages with wonderful ideas to clothing, accessories and fashion, but due to the lack of magical powers in the real world, the pages remained blank. Just like his mind.

It wasn't before somebody – a young couple he'd never seen around these parts before – rung the little bell on the desk to get the barista's attention, something happened. Loras emerged from the stockroom to greet the new customers with a charming smile on his lips. Even though he wasn't Renly's, he felt a sting of jealously when he smiled to somebody else, like they were going to take him away from him.

"Good morning." Loras' voice was nice and welcoming to the customers. His fingers worked quickly on the touch screen in front of him to prepare for their orders while he kept eye contact with the couple on the other side of the desk, who – unlike Loras – didn't smile particularly much. "What can I get you two?"

"I'd have a cappuccino with skimmed milk," the girl said, receiving a nod from Loras as he plotted it in on his screen. "Anything else?"

"A chocolate muffin, please."

"Sure thing." Loras nodded again and looked over to the boy – who was, by the way, a crime to everything called fashion. His cap was way too big, old and dirty, plus the colour combination was straight out awful. Renly smiled amused at the sight, shaking his head slowly as he watched the scene from his table further into the room.

"Give me a Frappuccino," the boy said before Loras had time to ask him what he wanted to drink. Loras' smile faded a little at the interruption, but his eyes were still as glittering and full of life as before.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't Starbucks-"

"Then give me something that resembles it. I need my coffee. Now."

"Yeah, yeah, relax." Loras plotted in a couple more things on the touchscreen and gave them the cost of the coffees and cupcake, his charming smile almost disappeared. Upon receiving the money, he gave them a new coffee card with two stamps, before he started to work on the beverages. He popped the muffin into the microwave to heat it up, readied the steamer to prepare the milk for the cappuccino and fetched a new bag of coffee from beneath the desk. It seemed like he had more control now than earlier – possibly since he'd gotten some time to wake up.

When the microwave dinged, the cappuccino was finished as well. It even had a white, rather awkward (but charming) heart in it. The girl thanked him when he handed her the cup + plate combo and another plate with the muffin, before she went to a table close to Renly's. She grinned to her boyfriend while he crossed his arms impatiently.

"There you are." Loras handed him the Frappuchino-esque drink in a plastic cup, complete with a straw. The boy took it in a tight grip, stirred it so the chocolate decoration mixed with the cream and coffee-ice, all while studying it carefully. He looked up and asked suspiciously: "Is this coffee-free?"

"What?"

"Without coffee."

"…No?"

"Then make me a new one. I want it without coffee."

"Sir, you told me you needed your coffee." Loras sighed annoyedly, not showing any signs to move or prepare another coffee for the boy with his hideous cap. "There is coffee in a Frappuchino. That's the point."

"If I want it without coffee, then you make me one without it. That's your job."

"And it's your job, as a customer, to inform me if you want it caffeine free before I make it." Loras grunted irritatedly, but twisted around on his heel to make it again, after the customer's directions. From where Renly sat, he could see the long-haired young man pour some extra chocolate in it, possibly to compensate for the lack of taste, as the remaining ingredients were basically just milk and ice. He topped it off with some cream and an extra dash of chocolate, before handing it over, smile completely gone from his face. "There. Happy now?"

"I need to taste it first." The boy mixed this one up as well, before taking a sip. His face went through a series of different expressions, ending up in a sneer as he slammed it back on the desk, meeting Loras' eyes angrily. "It tastes like shit."

"That's because there's no coffee in it," Loras said with a sigh.

"I want one that tastes good, without your fucking coffee in it. I've had it before." Without a warning, he leant against the desk, glaring angrily at Loras in a very threatening kind of manner. Renly readied himself to get up from his table in case anything happened, but Loras proved it unnecessary.

"Listen, I made it just as you wanted. In fact, I've made you two. If you don't like any of those, that's your problem." Bravely, he stepped towards the taller boy, staring unamused into his eyes and folding his arms. It actually resulted in the other backing down a little, since Loras was more or less beaming of control. "You've gotten what you wanted, just as you wanted them. If you don't want them, go somewhere else."

"I'll never come back here," was the response, said with a voice which was probably meant to be threatening, but just ended up being straight up pathetic. He took both his cups and went to his girl, who also had been watching the entire thing. Since she'd gotten her coffee in a porcelain cup, they were unable to leave until she'd drunk it all, so he sat down beside her, angrily sucking on his straw.

Renly returned his eyes to the now open drawing book on the table in front of him. An idea had started spinning in his mind, like a confused bee. It was small and incomplete, but heck, it was something! He ignored the low chatter from the couple beside him and started to draw. The grey lines formed shapes and figures. Round, angular and pointy shapes blended together on the white paper, forming figures and décor. He smiled for himself when the pencil drew what he had in mind. The lines were sketchy, but it was just a rough sketch. A great one, too.

"Hey, what's your goddamn problem?" Loras' voice cut through the calm atmosphere like a sharp dagger. Renly looked confusedly up from his drawings, worrying if he'd done anything wrong. It turned out that Loras wasn't talking to him, though, but the couple beside him. He glanced quickly to them, realising they were laughing. They'd done so for quite a long time, but it wasn't until now he understood what they were laughing at. It was him. They kept throwing glances at him, snickering and giggling lowly while whispering something between themselves.

The couple stopped laughing when they heard Loras' sharp voice and shifted around to stare at him. It didn't seem like they were expecting to actually be stopped with their shit-talking, since none of them were able to come up with a proper comeback. The boy got on his feet and started to walk towards the barista, throwing the half-empty cup towards the trash along the way – purposely missing it and hitting the wall instead, resulting in its contents splat across the wall.

"Pick that up," Loras commanded, face showing no fear even though the boy was walking directly towards him with his fists clenched so tight they had a white colour. Renly swallowed hard. He really wanted to stand up for Loras like he had done to him, but in all honesty, he wasn't a warrior. He couldn't beat anybody if it was to save his own life. All he could do was to watch them, hoping Loras would be okay.

"Don't you ever talk like this to me and my girlfriend, you little shit," the boy in the horribly ugly clothes snarled threateningly, but Loras still didn't budge. Even when the boy leant over to grab his cheeks tightly with one hand, he didn't receive more than an annoyed grunt from the beauty which was Loras. They stood like that for a while, the boy staring hatefully at Loras and Loras looking uninterested back at him.

Without a warning, the boy pulled Loras straight over the desk, resulting in two broken cups and a spilled water mug. Finally, Loras reacted. Renly's mouth dropped open when he saw what he'd never thought he'd see in his entire life. Though the boy was a whole lot bigger than the young barista, he was easily thrown around. He landed hard on the ground with a slam and a couple of loud cusses. He tried to get up to fight, but Loras was quickly over him, quick as a cat, grabbing his collar and pulling his head up to his own. He raised his fist, ready to punch the boy's nose in.

"I yield!" The boy raised his hands in fear, covering his now pinkish face. Loras held him there for a moment, and to Renly's enjoyment, the boy's face turned even more pink. He couldn't help himself but to laugh at the sight. When Loras finally let go of him, he jumped up like a scared bunny, grabbed his girlfriend's hand and went straight out of there, both of them cursing and complaining about how awful the café was.

Loras watched after them a moment, before he sighed and got up from the floor. By the time he had managed to turn around, Renly had already went over to the wall where the boy's drink had been splattered all over and started to wipe it off. He wasn't going to let the boy have even more work to do. His hands didn't deserve to get dirty after this.

"I can take care of that," Loras mumbled stubbornly, gently pushing past Renly to clean the wall. "It's my job after all."

"It's my choice if I want to help you, though," Renly commented. He didn't want to start a fight, though, so instead he simply went to the broken cups which was scattered across the floor and started to pick up the pieces. It didn't seem like Loras minded; his face was almost expressionless except for a small smile playing on the corner of his lips. The tiny curl on his mouth was enough for Renly to smile as well, even if it almost made him lose his glasses down on the floor he leant over. "Thanks for helping me, by the way. Making them shut up."

"It was nothing." Loras stopped cleaning for a moment to shoot a quick glance at Renly. Their eyes met for a split second; enough for Renly's heart to skip a couple of beats and his stomach to do a violent jump.

"Oh, but it was. You really showed them." A sharp piece of glass left a little stripe of wound on his finger, but luckily not enough to bleed. Thank god for that; he couldn't stand blood. "I've never seen anything like… What you did."

"Again, nothing to thank about." Loras chuckled. "When I was little, I wanted to be a knight. To protect the weak and fight against dragons and other monsters."

"Are you calling me weak?"

"Maybe." Loras grinned, finishing up the wall and leaning against it, at the same time as Renly was finished with his search for broken porcelain. "What are you drawing?"

"That's… Not really your business." Renly moved towards his drawings to protect them from Loras' eyes, but the younger man was a lot quicker on his feet. He snatched the sheet on the top with a joyful laugh.

When seeing what was drawn on it, his face went through a lot of different expressions; from wonder to confusion, from confusion to insecurity, and from insecurity to awe. Renly cringed hard and snatched the paper from him, hurriedly putting it away in the stack of other sheets, his face growing red.

"It was me," Loras said, almost sounding a little childish. He tilted his head slightly while studying the now bright red Renly, who was in a hurry to get everything together so he could leave the place. "You drew… Me."

"Uh, yes, I… No, I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. I know what I look like." His frown grew milder, and so did the rest of his face, eyes lighting up and mouth curling into yet another smile; this time a little more cocky. "I just can't understand how you managed to catch my gorgeousness on that piece of paper."

"I should really leave-"

"And the clothes…They're… Pretty different than what I usually wear. But they looked really good on me."

"They're just a rough sketch. The finished drawings will probably be different." He cleared his throat awkwardly. He had never actually meant to show those drawings to anybody, especially not Loras. If he could do exactly what he wished to do right now, he'd melted through the wall. After taking the drawing back from Loras' hand. "I'd really like them back."

"Do you normally draw random people in different clothes?" Loras asked, completely ignoring Renly's request. He smirked lightly while stepping forwards; uncomfortably close. "I'd like to see more of your… Drawings."

"Yeah, no." Renly snatched the paper out of the long-haired man's hand, and before anybody was able to react, he'd stuffed into the pile of blanks. Without looking back, he took everything under his arm. His heart was beating threatening him with jumping out of his chest, and choking him while he was at it. He needed to get out of there, to get air and catch his breath. Loras was excusing himself over his awful behaviour, but the words went straight over his head; not making any sense. He just needed to get out of there.

Normally, he'd stay a lot longer and take everything calmly like a proper grown-up. This time, however, it wasn't normal circumstances. He wrapped his green scarf tighter around his neck, pushed his glasses properly up on his nose and grabbed so hard around his sketched that his fingers whitened. While doing this, he could feel Loras' eyes fixed upon him, but he wasn't paying him any attention. Nope, this was not normal circumstances. Again, he cleared his throat, before he rushed out of the tiny café, hoping Loras would forget.

He knew though, that Loras wouldn't forget. And neither would he. He also knew that he'd be back the next morning, whether Loras was there or not. A part of him really wanted him to be, so he could explain himself properly. But another part of him – a lot larger part – hoped he wouldn't; it would be way too awkward. No, it would probably be for the best if he just forgot the whole boy, so he forced himself to focus on the logo he had to design for his client.

But no matter how much he fought, Loras kept sneaking back into his mind, and in the end, he gave in, smiling lightly for himself while waiting for his bus.


End file.
